Fanny Walden

Fanny (Frederick, Ingram) Walden, was born March 1 1888, in Wellingborough Northamptonshire and died in Northampton age 61, on May 3 1949. He was an English professional footballer who played on the right-wing for Nothampton Town, Tottenham Hotspur and at international level for England during the 1910s and 1920s. He also played cricket for Northamptonshire and was an English cricket umpire.

Football career

Fanny Walden joined Tottenham Hotspur from Northampton Town on April 13 1913 for a fee of £1,700. Being only being 5ft 2ins tall he was often described as a ‘diminutive winger’ and known for his ‘darting jinking runs down the right flank’. [cite news|url=http://www.tottenhamhotspur.com/history/legends/fannywalden.html|title=Fanny Walden on THFC site|] His small stature also accounted for his nickname ‘Fanny’ which was in common use during his time to describe those of ‘dainty physique'. [cite news|url=http://books.google.com/books?id=LjArpHyIMt4C&pg=PA223&dq=%22fanny+walden%22+tottenham&sig=LKHjPwjrtwFUAB84fOUkDlSELeI|title=Fanny Walden in A Covey of Partridge: An Anthology by Eric Partridge|]

He continued to play for Tottenham after the enforced break caused by the First World War. He made his most important contribution for Spurs in the team which won the Second Division title in 1920 but the following year unfortunately missed the 1921 FA Cup Final due to injury. He went on to play in over 300 games for Spurs including 215 league games (scoring 21 goals) and 22 FA Cup matches (3 goals) before returning to play again for Northampton Town in July 1924.

Walden won his first of two England Caps on April 14 1914 against Scotland. The second, on March 13 1922, was against Wales. Unsurprisingly, he holds the record for being the smallest ever footballer to represent England at national level. [cite news|url=http://www.english-football.org.uk/england/england-national-football-team-records/|title=Fanny Walden English Football site|]

Cricket career

Walden played Cricket at county level for Northamptonshire between 1910 and 1929. A right-handed batsman scoring over 7538 runs and slow right-hand bowler taking 119 wickets in 258 matches. After retiring from playing he became a Test Match standard cricket umpire, standing in 212 First Class matches between 1930 and 1939 and 11 test matches from 1934 (England vs Australia at Old Trafford) until 1939 (England vs West Indies at Lords). [cite news|url=http://www.cricketarchive.com/Archive/Players/33/33547/statistics_lists.html|title=Fanny Walden in Cricketarchive|]

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